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Saturday, February 24, 2007

Karma's Swift Revenge

After pulling out the rug from under the Heat’s second “non-Pat Riley” coach in two years (seriously, I wouldn’t even want Riley standing behind me in the line at the grocery store), he thought he’d triumphantly lead the Heat, with the superhuman D-Wade and a now-healthy Shaquille O’Neal (the timing was probably just a coincidence), to another “us against the world” championship.Riley is the leader in the clubhouse for “Most Priceless Face of the NBA Season.” During the third quarter of Riley’s second game back, as his Heat were getting pummeled by 30 at Dallas, just one night after Wade suffered what is looking like a season ending (both for Wade and the Heat) shoulder separation, Riley flashed the tortured smile of a veteran burglar who tried to pull one job too many; the look of a man who had doubled down on eleven and gotten a three. He wasn’t mad; he was resigned. He was facing the reality that after just two games, his plan has NO CHANCE of working.Not so fast, Riles!